The present invention relates to one way clutches, and more particularly to a novel one way clutch which may be readily assembled from relatively few components.
One way clutches are utilized in a variety of applications, such as for transfer of forces between a rotating shaft and surrounding structures such as a gear or a pulley. As is well known, it is desirable that such clutches permit overriding when excess torque is applied thereto through the rotating shaft in order to avoid damage to the clutch and to the structure in which it is seated.
Although various types of overriding one way clutch structures are known, clutches which employ roller bearings to provide frictional engagement between the shaft and the housing of the bearing to effect the torque transmission to the surrounding structure have enjoyed particular success. Much effort has been devoted to simplifying these structures in terms of fabrication and assembly. Illustrative of such one way clutches are Miura U.S. Pat. No. 4,660,698 granted Apr. 28, 1987; Lederman U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,508 granted Jun. 12, 1990; and Kashio et al U S. Pat. No. 4,989,705 granted Feb. 5, 1991.
Although the clutch illustrated in these patents and other patents of the general type have enjoyed substantial success and are widely employed in many applications, there has remained a desire to create an overriding one way clutch structure which may be assembled quickly and easily from relatively few parts, prior to assembly to the other components. It is also desirable to create such a clutch which may be readily adapted to various sizes of shafts and torque loading and readily fabricated in accordance with easily established design parameters. Moreover, it is desirable that such clutch assemblies exhibit reasonably long life despite being repeatedly subjected to overloads causing the clutch to override.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel one way overriding clutch which is relatively simple to fabricate from relatively few parts, and which will exhibit relatively long life.
It is also an object to provide such an overriding clutch which employs parameters permitting its facile adaptation to various sizes of shafts, units to be driven thereby, and torque loadings.
Another object is to provide such an overriding clutch which may be readily fabricated to provide assembly in which bearings and springs are retained in the housing and which will exhibit relatively long life despite relatively frequent override conditions.